Rotork electric valve actuators are being used in a refurbishmentproject that will see a coal-fired power station re-open withincreased capacity, improved efficiency and the latest cleanenvironmental technology.

Uskmouth B power station, at Newport inSouth Wales, was built in 1959 and closed in 1995.

In 1998 thestation was purchased by the global power company AES, who haveappointed a consortium led by General Electric International Incand including ABB Combustion Services Ltd and ABB EnvironmentalSystems to perform a complete refurbishment and re- commissioningproject.

When the station reopens later this year - renamed asAES Fifoots Point - its generating capacity will increase from360 to 393 megawatts whilst a new flue gas desulphurisation plantand low-nox burners together with low profile fan assistedcooling towers will ensure an efficient environmentalperformance.

Most of the Rotork actuators are being supplied fornew low-nox burners and dampers that are being installed,together with refurbished boilers and new economiser elements, byABB Combustion Services Ltd.

A total of 144 Rotork IQ, AQ and Qrange actuators have been fitted and commissioned for multi-turnand quarter turn valve and damper operation.

Peter Woolley, ABBCombustion Services Ltd Project Manager for the Fifoots Project,explained; "The main reason for selecting Rotork to supplythese actuators was their ability to meet the full range ofapplications from a single source, together with provencapabilities on other projects." All the Rotork actuatorswill be controlled by a new ABB Automation distributed controlsystem (DCS) which will supervise the operation of there-commissioned station.

The actuators are designed to provide adirect interface with the DCS and communicate vital valvereal-time positional and status information to the station'sthree control rooms, confirming that the plant is operatingefficiently.

Rotork electric valve actuators and two-wire digital control systems have been specified for a major plant upgrade at the Caltex Kurnell site in Sydney, Australia. The upgrade project involves conversion of the existing refinery site into an import terminal for the storage and distribution of petrol, diesel, jet fuel and fuel oil.

Rotork Gears has introduced the NTBG series of bevel gearboxes specifically designed to comply with the Russian GOST-R standard CKBA 062-2009 for valve and actuator mounting dimensions. The NTBG design is suitable for the manual or motorised operation of multi-turn gate, globe, sluice and penstock valves where the operating thrust is contained within the valve itself.

Rotork has completed a retrofit upgrade of some of the very first valve actuators to carry the Rotork name. Used in the transonic wind tunnel at the Aircraft Research Association and replaced by intelligent IQ3 actuators, the Model 100A actuators date back to 1953 and gave 60 years of unbroken service on this demanding aerospace application.

Rotork Valvekits has announced that it is now supplying the Centork range of valve positioners. The pneumatic positioners are designed for the operation of quarter-turn or linear-actuated valves in accordance with a proportional control signal.